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"Black Dot and Buddy Black It's really Marvarine and Willis Black, but everybody just calls us Dot and Buddy" Dot's hair is all teased and per cheap white sneakers, brown socks and oversized jeans She is a thin, oe

"Address?" I ask

"Eight sixty-three Squire, in Granger"

"Are you employed?"

Buddy has yet to open hisfor many years now "I'm on Social Security Disability," she says "I'ot a bad heart Buddy draws a pension, a small one"

Buddy just looks at lasses with plastic stems that barely reach his ears His cheeks are red and pluray with a brown tint to it I doubt if it's been washed in a week His shirt is a black-and-red-plaid number, even dirtier than his hair

"How old is Mr Black?" I ask her, uncertain as to whether Mr Black would tell me if I asked him

"It's Buddy, okay? Dot and Buddy None of this Mister business, okay? He's sixty-two Can I tell you so?"

I nod quickly Buddy glances at Booker across the table

"He ain't right," she whispers with a slight nod in Buddy's general direction I look at him He looks at us

"War injury," she says "Korea You know those metal detectors at the airport?"

I nod again

"Well, he could walk through one buck naked and the thing would go off"

Buddy's shirt is stretched almost threadbare and its buttons are about to pop as it tries desperately to cover his protruding gut He has at least three chins I try to picture a naked Buddy walking through the Me and security guards in a panic

"Got a plate in his head," she adds in summation

"That's-that's awful," I whisper back to her, then write on my pad that Mr Buddy Black has a plate in his head Mr Black turns to his left and glares at Booker's client three feet away

Suddenly, she lurches forward "So else," she says

I lean slightly toward her in anticipation "Yes?"

"He has a problem with alkeehall"

"You don't say"

"But it all goes back to the war injury," she adds helpfully And just like that, this woo has reduced her husband to an alcoholic imbecile

"Mind if I ss at her purse

"Is it allowed in here?" I ask, looking and hoping for a No Sn I don't see one

"Oh sure" She sticks a cigarette between her cracked lips and lights it, then yanks it out and blows a cloud of smoke directly at Buddy, who doesn't move an inch

"What can I do for you folks?" I ask, looking at the bundle of papers ide rubber bands wrapped tightly around it I slide Miss Birdie's will under al pad My first client is a ling career has co back to earth

"We don't havesecret and she's eardless of what they own, they're much wealthier than I, and I doubt if they're about to be sued

"And we need a lawyer," she adds as she takes the papers and snaps off the rubber bands

"What's the problem?"

"Well, we're gettin' a royal screwin' by an insurance company"

"What type of policy?" I ask She shoves the paperwork toward me, then wipes her hands as if she's rid of it and the burden has now been passed to a ed, creased and orn policy of some sort is on the top of the pile Dot blows another cloud and for a moment I can barely see Buddy

"It's a o, Great Benefit Life, when our boys were seventeen Now Donny Ray is dying of leukemia, and the crooks won't pay for his treatment"

"Great Benefit?"

"Right"

"Never heard of thee of the policy, as if I've handledabout every insurance company Two dependents are listed, Donny

Ray and Ronny Ray Black They have the same birth dates

"Well, pardon my French, but they're a bunch of sum-bitches"

"Most insurance cohtfully, and Dot smiles at this I have won her confidence "So you purchased this policy five years ago?"

"So like that Neveruntil Donny Ray got sick"

I' me or my life, health or auto I can't even afford a new tire for the left rear of ed little Toyota

"And, uh, you say he's dying?"

She nods with the cigarette between her lips "Acute leukeave hiet his bone marrow transplant Now it's probably too late"

She pronounces "marrow" in one syllable: "mare"

"A transplant?" I say, confused

"Don't you know nothin' about leukemia?"

"Uh, not really"

She clicks her teeth and rolls her eyes around as if I'arette for a painful drag When the smoke is sufficiently exhaled, she says, "My boys are identical twins, you see So Ron, we call him Ron because he don't like Ronny Ray, is a perfect match for Donny Ray's bone mare transplant Doctors said so Problem is, the transplant costs soot it, you see The insurance company's supposed to pay it because it's covered in the policy right there Su because of them"

She has an a to the core of this

We have been ignoring Buddy, but he's been listening He slowly relasses and dabs his eyes with the hairy back of his left hand Great Buddy's crying Bosco's whiain with guilt or re into his hands S whatto evoke such sorrow

"Where does he live?" I ask, just searching for a question the answer to which will allow nore the tears

"He's never left home Lives with us That's another reason the insurance coer covered"

I pick through the papers and glance at letters to and froe when he becomes an adult?"

She shakes her head and shtly "Nope Ain't in the policy, Rudy I've read it a dozen ti Even read all the fine print"

"Are you sure?" I ask, again glancing at the policy

"I' for almost a year"

"Who sold it to you? Who's the agent?"

"Sooofy tho knocked on our door and talked us into it Na like that, just a slick little crook who talked real fast I've tried to find him, but evidently he's skipped town"

I pick a letter from the pile and read it It's from a senior claims examiner in Cleveland, written several months after the first letter I looked at, and it rather abruptly denies coverage on the grounds that Donny's leuke condition, and therefore not covered If Donny in fact has had leukenosed four years after the policy was issued by Great Benefit "Says here coverage was denied because of a preexisting condition"

"They've used every excuse in the book, Rudy Just take all those papers there and read the conditions, fine print, they've tried everything"

"Is there an exclusion for bone marrow transplants?"

"Hell no Our doctor even looked at the policy and said Great Benefit ought to pay because bone mare transplants are just routine treatment now"

Booker's client wipes his face with both hands, stands and excuses himself He thanks Booker and Booker thanks him The old man takes a chair near a heated contest of Chinese checkers Miss Birdie finally frees N Elizabeth Erickson of Bosco and his problems Smoot paces behind us

The next letter is also from Great Benefit, and at first looks like all the rest It is quick, nasty and to the point It says: "Dear Mrs Black: On seven prior occasions this co We now deny it for the eighth and final tined by the Senior Claio at the top in disbelief Last fall I took a course called Insurance Law, and I reious behavior of certain co Communist who hated insurance companies, hated all corporations in fact, and had relished the study of wrongful denials of legitimate claims by insurers It was his belief that tens of thousands of bad-faith cases exist in this country and are never brought to justice He'd written books about bad-faith litigation, and even had statistics to prove his point that many people simply accept the denial of their claims without serious inquiry

I read the letter again while touching the fancy Great Benefit Life logo across the top

"And you never missed a premium?" I ask Dot

"No sir Not a single one"

"I'll need to see Donny's medical records"

"I've got most of them at home He ain't seen a doctor much lately We just can't afford it"

"Do you know the exact date he was diagnosed with leukemia?"

"No, but it was in August of last year He was in the hospital for the first round of chemo Then these crooks informed, us they wouldn't cover any more treatment, so the hospital shut us out Said they couldn't afford to give us a transplant Just cost too damned much I can't blame them, really"

Buddy is inspecting Hooker's next client, a frail little woman who also has a pile of paperwork Dot fumbles with her pack of Salems and finally sticks another one in her mouth

If Donny's illness is in fact leukeht months, then there's no way it could be excluded as a preexisting condition If there's no exeht? This makes sense to me, seems awfully clear in my mind, and since the law is rarely clear and seldo me deep in the depths of Dot's pile of rejections

"I don't really understand this," I say, still staring at the Stupid Letter

Dot blasts a dense cloud of blue fog at her husband, and the smoke boils around his head I think his eyes are dry, but I'm not certain She smacks her sticky lips and says, "It's simple, Rudy They're a bunch of crooks They think we're just siht 'em I worked irta blue jean factory for thirty years, joined the union, you know, and we fought the cohshod over little people"

In addition to hating lawyers, my father also frequently spewed forth venom on the subject of labor unions Naturally, Imasses "This letter is incredible," I say to her

"Which one?"

"The one from Mr Krokit, in which he says you're stupid, stupid, stupid"

"That son of a bitch I wish he'd bring his ass down here and call me stupid to my face Yankee bastard"

Buddy waves at the slance at him in hopes that he may try to speak, but he lets it pass For the first time I notice the left side of his head is a tad flatter than the right, and the thought of hiain flashes before my eyes I fold the Stupid Letter and place it on top of the pile

"It will take a few hours to review all this," I say

"Well, you need to hurry Donny Ray ain't got long He weighs a hundred and ten pounds non from a hundred and sixty He's so sick some days he can barely walk I wish you could see him"

I have no desire to see Donny Ray "Yeah, maybe later" I'll review the policy and the letters, and Donny's medicals, then I'll consult with Se letter to the Blacks in which I'll explain with great wisdom that they should have the'case reviewed by a real lawyer, and not just any real lawyer, but one who specializes in suing insurance companies for bad faith And I'll throw in a few na with their phone numbers, then I'll be finished with this worthless course, and finished with Smoot and his passion for Geezer Law

Graduation is thirty-eight days away

"I'll need to keep all this," I explain to Dot as I organize her ather her rubber bands "I'll be back here in teeks with an advisement letter"

"Why does it take teeks?"

"Well, I, uh, I'll have to do some research, you know, consult with my professors, look up some stuff Can you send me Donny's medical records?"

"Sure But I wish you'd hurry"

"I'll do my best, Dot"

"Do you think we've got a case?"

Though a reat deal of double-talk "Can't say at this point Looks proh But it'll take further review and careful research It's possible"

"What the hell does that mean?"

"Well, uh, it ood claim, but I'll need to review all this stuff before I know for sure"

"What kind of lawyer are you?"

"I'm a law student"

This seehtly around the white filter and glares at runts for the second time Soing here?"

Dot glares first at his bow tie, then at his wild hair

"Just fine," I say "We're finishing up"

"Very well," he says, as if time is up and more clients must be tended to He eases away

"I'll see you folks in a couple of weeks," I say warmly with a fake smile

Dot stubs her cigarette in an ashtray, and leans closer again Her lip is suddenly quivering and her eyes are wet She gently touches my wrist and looks helplessly at "

We stare at each other forever, and I finally nod andThese poor people have just entrusted the life of their son to me, a third-year law student at Memphis State They honestly believe I can take this pile of rubble they've shoved in front of me, pick up the phone, make a few calls, write a few letters, huff and puff, threaten this and that and, Presto!, Great Benefit will fall to its knees and throw money at Donny Ray And they expect this to happen quickly

They stand and aardly retreat from my table I am almost certain that somewhere in the policy is a perfect little exclusion, barely readable and certainly indecipherable, but nonetheless placed there by skilled legal craftshtfully breeding small print for decades

With Buddy in tow, Dot zigzags through folding chairs and serious Rook players and stops at the coffeepot, where she fills a paper cup with decaf and lights another cigarette They huddle there in the rear of the roo es of scarcely readable fine print, and take notes I try to ignore them

The crowd has thinned and people are slowly leaving I'h for one day, and I hope I get no , and I shudder to think that in a few short uing with other lawyers before judges and juries I'm not ready to be turned loose upon society with the power to sue

Law school is nothing but three years of wasted stress We spend countless hours digging for information we'll never need We are bootten We memorize cases and statutes which will be reversed and amended tomorrow If I'd spent fifty hours a week for the past three years training under a good lawyer, then I would be a good lawyer Instead, I'al proble bar exam

There is lance up in ti aid shuffling in my direction